WolfeStrike (De Wolfe Pack Generations #2) - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,117
wall first, shoving it open, and Isalyn and Isabella slowed their pace as they neared the open gate.
That was their undoing.
Suddenly, there was as dull thud and Isabella fell to the ground. As Isalyn bent over to see what the matter was, someone grabbed her by the arm. It was a strong, biting grip and Isalyn found herself looking into the face of a man she didn’t recognize.
He was older, with graying hair and a sloppy beard, and his gaze focused intently on her.
“You look like him,” he muttered, his breath foul. “I see Steffan in you, Lady Isalyn.”
He was holding something in his hand and it took Isalyn a second to realize that it was a sword, but he was holding it hilt upward, like a hammer. As Isabella groaned, it occurred to Isalyn what had happened.
Panic surged.
“You hit her,” she hissed, trying to yank her arm free. “Why did you hit her? Who are you?”
The man was trying to sheathe his sword and hold on to Isalyn at the same time. “Shut your mouth, Woman!” he hissed. “You’re coming with me.”
Isalyn went from stunned to panic to full-blown hysteria. She began to twist and fight, trying to yank her arm from him as he held her fast.
“I’m not going anywhere!” she yelled. “Let me go!”
The fight was on.
The man, whoever he was, was strong. Unable to sheathe his sword, he tried to hit Isalyn in the head with it as he’d hit Isabella, but Isalyn dodged and kicked and scratched. She started to scream and he was forced to drop the sword, pushing her roughly against the wall, hard enough to knock the wind out of her.
He clamped a dirty hand over her mouth.
“Be quiet or I will kill you where you stand,” he growled. “You’re coming with me.”
In her terror, Isalyn brought up a knee and rammed it into the man’s privates. He faltered and loosened his grip enough so that she was able to break free, but he was on her in an instant, grabbing her by her long hair and falling on top of her when she tripped and fell forward.
Using his body to pin her down, his hands went around her neck, squeezing as she struggled to breathe and scream. Unfortunately for Isalyn, she couldn’t get her hands up from the way he was pinning her and the world was starting to go black. She tried her hardest to scream, to fight, but he was heavy and strong, and he had her trapped. The world began to fade and her struggles lessened.
Soon enough, everything went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
He thought it looked rather odd.
Barbara had taken a horse from the stables to the inner gatehouse, telling the soldiers that she wished to ride around the inner wall and collect some wildflowers. Since that wasn’t unusual behavior from Barbara, the soldiers let her through, but Fraser was watching from the yard when she’d ridden through and he thought that something about her looked strange.
Then, it occurred to him.
She had two big, heavy saddlebags on the back of the horse. Those types of bags belonged to knights, as he had a pair of his own. They were custom made, durable pieces of equipment, tailored to each owner. They weren’t something that young women out to gather flowers would normally carry, nor would any bags she carried have a three-point shield burned into the leather.
… shield?
Suspicious, he followed.
Fraser was looking for Tor or Christian or any other knight as he ran to the stable yard, but he didn’t see anyone. He thought they were probably in the great hall at this time of day, but he didn’t want to take the time to find them. He did, however, grab a stable servant and sent him with a message for Tor – that Barbara had left through the inner gatehouse and Fraser was following her.
Satisfied, he grabbed the nearest horse, threw on a bridle, and leapt onto the back of the skittish beast. Digging his heels in, he took off across the outer bailey, heading for the inner gatehouse.
The men on the wall were pointing to the east, the direction that Barbara had gone, and Fraser followed. There was a path around the castle inner walls with the moat down below, so he followed that trail as quickly as he could, rounding the southeast corner and then finally the northeast corner, coming around the bend only to see something quite confusing over near the postern gate.